Caught in the Rain
by HeyNowNow
Summary: Kaiba happens upon Joey walking in the rain and invites him to spend the night at his place (Joey/Kaiba)


Kaiba was in the backseat of his car, heading home after an irritating dinner with investors. He always found the social aspects of running a company aggravating and much preferred talking things over in his office, away from distractions and alcohol, but he knew to reach his goals he had to play the game. Though now at least he could rest.

He tilted his head back, close to dozing off there in the car, when something caught his attention outside.

"Slow down," he called out to his driver, though he was already driving far below the speed limit thanks to the torrential rain outside. He saw the unmistakable silhouette of Joey walking along the street, wearing nothing to protect himself from the storm other than a t shirt, jeans, and sneakers. "Pull over," he ordered and the driver did.

From his seat he could tell Joey got startled by having a black car pull up close to him in the middle of the night in a downpour, but he relaxed when Kaiba rolled down his window.

"Wheeler, it's been raining all night, how were you foolish enough to get caught in it?"

"Hey, Kaiba, fancy seeing you here," Joey said, grinning despite being soaked to the bone.

Kaiba observed him for a moment longer before opening his door and sliding over to give Joey room. "Get in," he said, and Joey didn't have to be told twice. He got into the car and rolled up the window. Once inside Kaiba could really see that he was drenched, head to toe, and he was shivering badly. Joey had his arms wrapped around himself to try to keep warm, but that was a losing battle.

"Turn up the heat," Kaiba ordered his driver. "Where are you going? I'll take you."

"Wow! Honestly, thanks so much, Kaiba! You're doing me a huge favor!" Joey told the driver the address he was heading to, and as they drove along Kaiba watched Joey.

"How did you get stuck in the rain?" He asked again, hoping to get a straight response this time.

"Oh, you know, how does anything happen?" Joey said, still smiling at him. "Let's just chalk it up to me being a dummy, okay?"

Kaiba wasn't satisfied with that response, but his driver spoke and said, "We're here, sir."

"Awesome! Seriously, Kaiba, I never thought I'd owe you one, but I really do after this. Goodnight."

"Wait," Kaiba said, stopping Joey before he could swing open the door. "Where are we? What is this place?" The area they were in was dark, with no functioning street lamps. The building they were stopped in front of was large and imposing. It almost seemed like a boarding home, but that didn't seem right.

"It's a men's shelter, according to the GPS, sir," his driver answered.

"A shelter?" Kaiba questioned. "I thought you had a home?"

"Uh, sometimes," Joey said, trying his best to tiptoe around the issue. "Sometimes it's safer in the shelter."

Kaiba furrowed his brow and shook his head, not understanding. "What about Yugi's house? Or Tristan? Or Duke? You have plenty of people to call to spend the night with."

Joey scoffed and waved away what Kaiba was saying. "What's the point in worrying those guys? Plus, have you seen what time it is? They're probably asleep."

Kaiba turned to his driver and said, "Take us home."

"What?" Joey said as the car pulled away from the curb. "Kaiba, that's really generous, but I'm fine at the shelter, I promise, I've stayed there dozens of times."

"Don't shelters have curfews?"

"Yeah, but they know me and know my situation. Maybe I won't get a bed, but usually there's a nice chair with my name on it."

"You're not staying there tonight," Kaiba said, his decision final.

Joey bit his lower lip and settled into his seat. He was so deeply embarrassed, he never thought in a million years Kaiba of all people would see him like this. It was late, surely the rich boy should have been home sleeping by then, but he shyly eyed him and realized he was dressed rather formally. "Where are you coming from?" He ventured to ask, trying to fill the silence.

"From an investor's dinner party."

"Fancy. Did you get new investors?"

"Yes and no, it's complicated. A lot of give and take."

Joey nodded. He couldn't even begin to imagine what fancy rich people must talk about during their fancy rich dinners, but he bet it was complicated stuff. He looked down and that's when he realized he was soaking the black leather seats of the car. He jumped and moved to sit at the very edge of his seat. "Oh no! I'm ruining your seats!"

"Relax, it's fine. I can always get it detailed later," Kaiba said, grumbling that Joey would even worry about something so inconsequential. "Are you warming up?"

Joey turned to him, not sure what to make of Kaiba's kindness. It was so unlike him, even pulling over to begin with was shocking. But all the same Joey sat back in his seat and nodded. "As warm as I can be in wet clothes."

"I think I should have pajamas that might fit. And you should shower before you go to bed or else you'll catch a cold."

"Uhm. Okay." Joey didn't argue with that. A nice hot shower sounded heavenly in that moment.

It wasn't much longer before the driver pulled up to a gate and they entered Kaiba's large estate.

"Holy shit," Joey said, unable to contain himself or watch his language as they drove up the long path to the mansion. "You live here?"

Kaiba smirked. He couldn't help the swell of pride as dazzlement was plain on his guest's face. "Yeah. What did you expect?"

Joey was looking out the window as he shrugged and jutted out his lower lip. "I don't know. I guess this. But still, I've never been to a place this nice before in my whole life." He knew that sounded pathetic, but he already looked worse for wear, what would be the point in fronting at this point?

Kaiba nodded. "Much better than a chair in a shelter, right?"

Joey turned to him. He grinned. "Totally!"

Once they were pulled inside the garage, in which Joey counted five different cars, not including the one they were currently in, he quickly got out of the car to follow Kaiba. His wet sneakers squeaked with every step and he wanted to die, but his host made as though he didn't notice. They entered the mansion through the kitchen, and were immediately greeted by a woman. "Greetings, Mr. Kaiba. Oh? You brought a guest?"

"Yes. Take him to a guest bedroom and get him a change of clothes. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Wheeler," Kaiba said, turning to Joey.

"Oh! Goodnight, Kaiba," Joey said. Everything was happening quickly, but before he could say more, Kaiba was already walking out the kitchen, removing his coat as he walked.

"Come with me then, mister… Wheeler, was it?" The woman asked.

"You can call me Joey!" He quickly said, laughing nervously. He felt bad, he didn't want this woman to fuss over him, wasn't she tired too?

"Very well, Joey. Please follow me." She led Joey up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway with several doors before stopping on the third one to the right. "This will be your room for tonight, Joey. There should be fresh clothes within the drawers but let me double check for you."

Joey timidly stepped into the guest bedroom, which was bigger than the apartment he lived in with his dad. He turned around, taking it all in, and feel worse than before. Everything in Kaiba's mansion was so nice, he was grimeying up the place.

"These pajamas should fit well enough," the woman said, placing a small stack of folded clothes onto the bed. "The bathroom has fresh towels and amenities, but if you need anything else, please don't be afraid to ask. You will see a phone on the nightstand. Dial eleven to reach me. My name's Delilah."

"Thanks so much, Delilah! Sorry for making you go through all this trouble!"

"No trouble at all, Joey," she said, shaking her head. "Goodnight."

She walked to the door. Joey bit his thumb, knowing it would be a weird question, but how weird could it be? He could write it off as curiosity. "Ugh, Delilah, one last thing."

"Yes?" She turned to face him.

"Where did Kaiba go?"

"Mr. Kaiba went to his bedroom, which is located on the third floor. I suggest not interrupting him."

"Gotcha! I'll keep that in mind, thanks again. Goodnight."

Delilah smiled and stepped out of the bedroom. Joey grabbed the clothes she left for him on the bed and went to the bathroom. It felt so good to strip off all the wet clothes. He hung them to dry on a towel rack against the wall and stepped into the shower. Even the bathroom in this guest room was huge. The shower was so big Joey knew he could comfortably lie in it in any direction. But rather than experiment, he turned on the hot air and sighed in relief. Kaiba was right, his mansion blows the shelter out of the water. Though Joey also knew he shouldn't be so callous, the mansion was nice but the shelter was always there for him when he needed it. He turned his back to the shower head and let the hot water cover his entire body. He was grateful to the shelter, but damned if he didn't deserve a lucky break like this one.

Out of the shower, dried, dressed, and even his teeth brushed, he stepped outside and noticed socks and slippers on the other side of the bed. He put them on and laid on the bed, his arms and legs spread to take up as much room as possible, but there was still plenty of bed leftover. He rolled around and stretched. He pulled the pillow close to him and giggled. How comfortable! Kaiba made a mistake inviting him to spend the night, it would take a bulldozer to get Joey to leave.

Comfortable and settled in, Joey looked at the clock on the nightstand. It was already two in the morning. His eyes were heavy, and he wanted to drift off, but he got out of bed and opened the door to his room. He looked this way and that, but the hallway was empty. As quiet as he could he slipped out of his room and headed towards the stairs to the third floor. He worried that just because he knew which floor Kaiba's room was, didn't mean he knew what door, but that was when he walked by two large, extravagant wooden doors with Blue Eyes carved on them. Joey cocked his brow and smirked. He should have known.

Slowly and softly he opened the door, surprised it wasn't locked, but then again why would Kaiba lock his bedroom in his own home?

"I said I didn't want to be disturbed," Kaiba called out, obviously annoyed but not angry. Joey poked his head in and could see he was sitting up in bed, a book in hand. "Wheeler? I figured you'd be asleep by now."

"Yeah, well I figured the same for you, guess we were both wrong," Joey said, stepping into his bedroom and closing the door behind him.

"What do you want? If you need anything you can asked Delilah for it."

Joey shook his head as he walked to Kaiba. "Nah. I don't need anything, I wanted to see you."

"Why?"

Joey bit the inside of his cheek. This would get weird fast, but he had nothing to offer Kaiba as a thank you except for this. He leaned down and cupped his face and kissed him. He felt Kaiba's head instinctually jolt back, but he began kissing him back after a moment. With Kaiba kissing him and even reaching out to him, Joey took that as an invite to straddle his lap. He now had both hands on Kaiba's face and deepened their kiss. He blushed at how eagerly Kaiba rubbed his tongue against his, and how good Kaiba's hands felt running along his back. He was glad he didn't miss the mark, that he could make this night up to the rich boy with his body. He began unbuttoning his pajama top and working to taking it off, but that's when Kaiba pulled back and said, "What are you doing it?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Taking off your shirt."

"Well then, there ya go."

"Okay, but why?"

"Because sex feels better without clothes on."

Kaiba shook his head and blinked several times. "Who said we were going to have sex?"

Joey smiled mischievously and loosely hung his arms around Kaiba's neck. "Oh, come on, Kaiba. Isn't that the name of the game? You help me out, I help you out. I don't have much else to offer the guy who has everything."

He leaned in to kiss him again, but Kaiba tilted his head back. "Woah. I'm not helping you out so you can owe me a sexual favor."

"But I don't have anything else." Joey pouted.

"I don't want anything else. I was just helping to help, not because I want anything out of this."

"Then how come you kissed me back?"

Kaiba scoffed, his mouth hung open. He shook his head and dropped his hands from Joey's waist. "I kissed you back because I thought you were kissing me for legitimate reasons."

"Legitimate reasons?" Joey repeated, not sure what that meant.

Kaiba frowned. He looked sad, and Joey wasn't sure why. He turned his head to the side and said, "Why don't you just go back to your room and we forget this happened, Wheeler. You don't owe me anything. I'm just trying to help a friend out for once."

Joey was taken aback by that. Friend. Kaiba really called him his friend? He was suddenly his with an epiphany, and before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "You like me!"

"What?" Kaiba said, turning back to look at him, his eyebrow cocked.

"That's what you meant by legitimate reasons. You thought I liked you back." Joey held his finger up to Kaiba's face, feeling the need to explain Kaiba's emotions back at him.

Kaiba closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He shoved Joey off of him and onto the floor.

"Ow! What gives, Kaiba?"

"Get out of my room, you idiot," Kaiba said with a humph. He pulled his blanket up and laid down on his bed, his back to Joey.

Joey groaned and stood up, rubbing his backside where he landed. He looked at Kaiba and frowned. Kaiba liked him, there was no doubt about that. But did he like him back? He never considered that before. He suppose he found him attractive, but that was easy since he had eyes and could see. Someone had to be real dense to not find Kaiba hot. And personality wise? Well, he was rough around the edges, but the longer he knew him the more relaxed he'd become. He had to admit, he did admire what a great brother he was to Mokuba. And when he wasn't dueling Yugi, he always rooted for Kaiba and thought he looked cool with his Blue Eyes. He carefully moved over Kaiba and landed on the bed so he was facing him. "Hey, I'm sorry," he whispered.

"I thought I told you to go to your room," Kaiba said without opening his eyes.

"I didn't mean to insult you earlier. I really do appreciate you picking me up and letting me spend the night here. Thank you."

"Whatever."

Joey scooted closer to Kaiba, the makings of a blush coloring his cheeks. "Maybe tomorrow we can start over-"

"I already said that."

"No, I mean, instead of forgetting, we just do it over. I'll kiss you in the morning and you can kiss me back and it'll be for legitimate reasons."

Kaiba opened his eyes. He looked Joey over and asked for a third time that night. "Why were you out in the rain?"

"My dad came home drunk and wanted to fight. When he gets that way nothing can stop him and it's safer if I spend the night elsewhere," Joey said.

Kaiba nodded. He cupped Joey's face and leaned over to kiss him deeply. "That's to make you feel better," he said when they pulled away.

"You're a pretty good host, you know that," Joey said.

"I do."

Joey scoffed, but kissed him again. As they made out he shimmied his way under the sheets and Kaiba wrapped his arms around him and held him close.

"If these are throw away kisses, I can't wait for tomorrow when we kiss for real," Joey whispered.

Kaiba snorted. He kissed him one last time and said, "Goodnight, Wheeler."

"Goodnight, Kaiba."


End file.
